Work on Oviedo's long-range transportation study will begin later this month, and the city will have a planner to help work on the project.The council Monday night voted to hire St. Cloud city planner Randall Cohen for the new position. Cohen, 26, will receive $19,000 a year.The council also approved a $23,000 contract with the Orlando engineering firm of Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan Inc. to serve as transportation consultant in preparing the plan and a computerized traffic model. The firm already furnishes Oviedo with engineering services.

GROVELAND -- Plans to redirect some traffic from State Road 50 could drive a major redevelopment of the downtown business district. The busy four-lane highway cuts two paths through the middle of the city with an estimated 24,000 cars and trucks a day. Groveland wants to reduce those vehicles as it works to nurture more businesses and to attract more visitors. But officials admit that creating an alternate route for one of Lake County's busiest roads is no simple task. And it could cost millions.

TAVARES - Much of Lake County's charm is its rural nature. But Lake is growing, attracting more residents and businesses - and more vehicles that clog local roads.Folks living here, as well as those planning to move here, don't want to see Lake become an urban mecca with congested roadways. So county transportation officials are looking further into the future than ever before to meet transportation needs.The county government has teamed up with a Tampa consulting firm to draft a long-range transportation plan to handle growth well into the 21st century.

KISSIMMEE -- Osceola County is extending a transit study in the hopes of developing short- and long-term plans for improving its system. The county approved a two-year study in July 2002, agreeing to pay $206,000 for the work. This week, it extended the contract with BRW of Tampa through April 2004 at a cost of $35,000. The extension allows further surveys of transportation systems with Lynx and Amtrak, ridership information, and a service plan for the next decade for residents and tourists.

Detailed studies of Oviedo's transportation needs and a long-range planning and funding strategy for citywide services needed to meet anticipated growth will take about two years to complete and will cost up to $65,000.Both studies have equal importance to the city, financial adviser Jeff Etchberger told the city council at a workshop Monday night.The transportation study would be completed first, taking about eight to nine months to complete. It would cost $30,000 to $35,000, and could begin next month, Etchberger said.

The newly-formed Citizens Advisory Committee to review the city's transportation needs through 2005 will meet at 7 p.m. today at the mayor's conference room in city hall.The nine-member committee was formed to review the transportation study prepared by engineering consultants Foxworth, Swift & Associates of Maitland and to make recommendations for improvements to the Button Road/Sunset Drive intersection.A specific issue in the transportation study that the committee was asked to review is Foxworth's proposal to build a road connecting Oxford Road and U.S. Highway 17-92.

The city council has approved a job description for a city planner, set a salary range and authorized advertising for applicants to fill the job.In a related move, building official Jay Bolton was given a new title and the authority to supervise the planner.The council also voted to initiate an extensive transportation study that will take up to nine months to complete and cost up to $35,000.The planner's salary, at least initially, will be offset by reducing the consulting fees paid to financial adviser Jeff Etchberger for work on the transportation study and a study of long-range planning and funding strategy that will follow.

The city council this week agreed to look into establishing an interim transportation impact fee because it will be 10 to 12 months before a permanent impact fee can be established.Financial adviser Jeff Etchberger was asked at a Monday work session to give the city proposed fees that would be paid by builders to offset the cost of development-related road construction. Consideration could come as early as Monday's regular meeting.Work on the city's long-range transportation study is on schedule, Etchberger said.

GROVELAND -- Plans to redirect some traffic from State Road 50 could drive a major redevelopment of the downtown business district. The busy four-lane highway cuts two paths through the middle of the city with an estimated 24,000 cars and trucks a day. Groveland wants to reduce those vehicles as it works to nurture more businesses and to attract more visitors. But officials admit that creating an alternate route for one of Lake County's busiest roads is no simple task. And it could cost millions.

Seminole County representatives began negotiating Thursday with an Orlando engineering firm for a transportation study of the northwest section of the county.Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan was ranked the top firm to negotiate a contract and fee for the study. A contract could be before the commissioners for approval in two weeks, county representatives said.Commissioners agreed in May after meeting with members of the Friends of the Wekiva River Inc., a non-profit group concerned with preserving the quality of the waterway, to hire consultants to study transportation in that section of the county.

TAVARES - Much of Lake County's charm is its rural nature. But Lake is growing, attracting more residents and businesses - and more vehicles that clog local roads.Folks living here, as well as those planning to move here, don't want to see Lake become an urban mecca with congested roadways. So county transportation officials are looking further into the future than ever before to meet transportation needs.The county government has teamed up with a Tampa consulting firm to draft a long-range transportation plan to handle growth well into the 21st century.

Washington motorists can escape to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a Sunday drive. For a time, it looked like Central Florida drivers would cruise the Econ Parkway along the curves of the quiet Econlockhatchee River.But don't pack a picnic lunch and go off in search of the Econ Parkway.The only place you'll find the scenic road - and a few dozen other highways never traveled - is among outdated maps and plans.Bookshelves in government offices are full of old transportation studies calling for parkways, beltlines, throughways, highway extensions and causeways that never made it from idea to asphalt.

Make your bed, Central Florida. Stop complaining.Get off your rear-ends and do something about improving life around here.Enough whining about traffic. Enough whining about dull, stupid and gutless politicians who lack vision.It's idea time. It's intellectual wrestlemania. And it's your turn in the ring.The editors and writers at Florida magazine have been thinking a lot lately, which in itself is a little unusual and probably very dangerous. We've been thinking of ways to improve Central Florida.

The newly-formed Citizens Advisory Committee to review the city's transportation needs through 2005 will meet at 7 p.m. today at the mayor's conference room in city hall.The nine-member committee was formed to review the transportation study prepared by engineering consultants Foxworth, Swift & Associates of Maitland and to make recommendations for improvements to the Button Road/Sunset Drive intersection.A specific issue in the transportation study that the committee was asked to review is Foxworth's proposal to build a road connecting Oxford Road and U.S. Highway 17-92.

The Metropolitan Planning Organization gave thumbs up Thursday to a transportation study that local and state officials hope will lay the groundwork for a major overhaul of Interstate 4 through Orange, Seminole and Osceola counties.The comprehensive study, which the state Department of Transportation will begin next summer, covers 40 miles of I-4 from State Road 46 near Sanford to State Road 532 at the Osceola-Polk county line.Officials say the $960,000 study will be the first stage of a master plan to identify needed improvements to I-4 and its connecting roads, which already are at or above their capacities.

A controversial transportation impact fee proposal that could top Orange, Seminole and Lake counties' fees, will come before the city's transportation committee at 9 a.m. Thursday.One member of the committee -- former Councilman Bill Arrowsmith -- has attacked as illogical and unfair a preliminary transportation report that gives several choices of impact fees.It is likely that other committee members will vote to set the interim fee for new growth between $630 and $2,445 per single-family home.

Washington motorists can escape to the Blue Ridge Parkway for a Sunday drive. For a time, it looked like Central Florida drivers would cruise the Econ Parkway along the curves of the quiet Econlockhatchee River.But don't pack a picnic lunch and go off in search of the Econ Parkway.The only place you'll find the scenic road - and a few dozen other highways never traveled - is among outdated maps and plans.Bookshelves in government offices are full of old transportation studies calling for parkways, beltlines, throughways, highway extensions and causeways that never made it from idea to asphalt.

A controversial transportation impact fee proposal that could top Orange, Seminole and Lake counties' fees, will come before the city's transportation committee at 9 a.m. Thursday.One member of the committee -- former Councilman Bill Arrowsmith -- has attacked as illogical and unfair a preliminary transportation report that gives several choices of impact fees.It is likely that other committee members will vote to set the interim fee for new growth between $630 and $2,445 per single-family home.

Seminole County representatives began negotiating Thursday with an Orlando engineering firm for a transportation study of the northwest section of the county.Post, Buckley, Schuh and Jernigan was ranked the top firm to negotiate a contract and fee for the study. A contract could be before the commissioners for approval in two weeks, county representatives said.Commissioners agreed in May after meeting with members of the Friends of the Wekiva River Inc., a non-profit group concerned with preserving the quality of the waterway, to hire consultants to study transportation in that section of the county.

The city council this week agreed to look into establishing an interim transportation impact fee because it will be 10 to 12 months before a permanent impact fee can be established.Financial adviser Jeff Etchberger was asked at a Monday work session to give the city proposed fees that would be paid by builders to offset the cost of development-related road construction. Consideration could come as early as Monday's regular meeting.Work on the city's long-range transportation study is on schedule, Etchberger said.